As is well known, the rising dampness level depends on the degree of compactness and of priming absorption of the material.
Various and different techniques have been adopted to date to counteract the negative effects of dampness in masonries and to prevent its formation.
One of these techniques is the so-called "wall-partition method". This involves the insertion of resins or of metallic plates, and consists in the creation of a barrier which prevents water from ascending.
Such method, though theoretically safe as regards the problem of capillary rising, also has considerable drawbacks which are due in particular to the method employed for installation.
Indeed, it is difficult to check whether the arrangement of the resin inserts has been carried out in the best way by means of well connected and welded joints, so as to assure the homogeneity of the masonry.
Moreover, metal oxidation in case of metallic plates, or resin depolymerization through the action of atmospheric agents, often cause rupture or cracking of the material in contact with water so as to damage its functional properties.
Finally, when the resin layers are placed in direct contact with the masonry, shrinkage and differential expansion with respect to the masonry itself often cause breaking crumbling of the masonry material and/or of the dampness-removing material employed.
Even in systems in which the resin is injected under pressure or by a slow transfusion, as in the Peter Cox method, depolymerization of the materials often occurs.
Moreover, both in the method of injection under pressure and in the method of slow transfusion the material. There may be incomplete filling with such materials or, in the case of the first-mentioned method, rupture of the capillary tubes with the consequent formation of pits of larger sizes, in which a larger amount of water becomes concentrated.
Another prior art technique for limiting dampness rising up the capillary tubes is the electro-osmosis method, which consists in creating an electric polarity inversion between the soil and the masonry, so as to invert also the path of the water particles and to direct them from the masonry itself towards the soil.
This is generally done by inserting copper electrodes into the masonry.
One of the greatest drawbacks of such system is due to the oxidation of the metallic members which if positioned improperly, damage the operating properties of the system.
The removal and exhaustion of dampness from masonries by the latter technique also requires a particularly long time and, as a consequence, often fails to produce the desired effects. Moreover, it works only with strong dampness concentrations, and stops when the percentage of the dampness diffused in a masonry is still too high for the wall to be accepted as hygienically suitable.
The use of siphoning devices, and in particular of the Knapen method, has the drawback of making reference to a member which is so inserted into the masonry as to cause the hole in the masonry itself not to be in direct contact with air. Moreover, it is inserted at such a slope as to perform its effectively only under certain atmospheric conditions.
Although the technique discussed hereinabove, like other techniques already known in the prior art, seen in theory to be efficient for reclamation and prevention of dampness formation in masonry structures, they are quite limited in paractice, because they all consist in interventions which are carried out directly on the masonry.
Moreover, taking into consideration the specific character of the installation systems, it is often impossible to perform a reclamation intervention by combining the effects of different methods.
Accordingly, there is an evident need for a dampness removing system endowed with a high degree of adaptation to the various masonry systems, which system should allow a rapid exhaustion of dampness, and should be easily usable both for reclamation interventions and in new buildings for prevention purposes; such system should also remove all installation problems typical of the methods described above and all functional drawbacks connected to such methods.